Our New Home

The 80 Turk Story

In 2012, CounterPulse was faced with the reality that our long-term lease at our SoMA venue was coming to an end. Twitter moved in around the block and we were expecting a massive rent spike. So we started shopping around. We were ready to grow and we wanted a new home. This led us to the Northern California Community Loan Fund (NCCLF) to analyze our capacity to take on a new facility. At that same time, NCCLF had just begun working with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation to develop the Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST), and they were looking for a pilot project. Thanks to CounterPulse’s healthy financials, our commitment to community, and some good ol’ lucky timing, we were selected by CAST to receive support to purchase and renovate a building of our own. Jensen Architects joined the team to design the renovation. Working with NCCLF, they found a building they thought might be a perfect fit: the old Dollhouse theater at 80 Turk Street. At first, their pitch on how we could eventually buy the building seemed too good to be true, but as time has told we dove in. CAST took leadership in clearing through the loads of debt and complications saddling the building. The then-current owner visited our old location, and was moved by the work of CounterPulse. So moved, that he sold us the building at a philanthropic price. We set-up shop at the un-renovated 80 Turk in the winter of 2014 and did tons of pop-up programming: from short residencies to dance parties, and from performances to hackathons; we let the building begin to tell us what it wanted to become. In February 2015, when federal funding in the form of a New Markets Tax Credit came though we broke ground. After more than a year of construction and seven months of CounterPulse being displaced, we moved into our new, permanent home in March 2016.

We have until 2021 to buy-out CAST and make 80 Turk a permanent home for CounterPulse. Thanks for supporting and standing in solidarity with us. We are truly elated to welcome you to YOUR new home for art and community. If you are interested in learning how to invest in the future of our facility please contact Artist & Executive Director Julie Phelps at julie@counterpulse.org.